Suggestion: Listen to the song "Soldiers" by Otherwise for this chapter it gave me chills.

Will be swearing in this chapter, read with caution, you have been warned

Chapter 10

I think that I slept for the entire four hour flight, I'm not entirely sure but I'm eighty percent positive that I did. It's not that I didn't like flying; it was just that I disliked the idea that there were only a few inches of metal and a couple of thousand feet of air between me and the ground. The Chinook landed and the back door opened. I was about to get out of my seat when the Colonel stopped me. "What is it, sir?" I asked.

"Are you sure that you can go through with this mission, Private?" he asked me. "I won't have you risking the lives of my men."

"I'm positive, sir," I answered with conviction. "I need to stop him before he does something else and harms more innocent people."

"Then you'll be needing these," the Colonel said handing me an M-16 and five magazines.

"Thank you, sir." I said taking the weapon and mags. I saluted the Colonel and he saluted back. I followed him out of the chopper and looked at my surroundings. So, this is the Canadian Shield, I thought. Or at least part of it.

"Listen up, men," the Colonel commanded. "We are going to divide into two groups of eight and one group of nine. You know what group you're in by the color of your helmet, blacks are with me, greens are with Second Lieutenant Jackson, and the camos are with Captain Larson. Got it?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Good, now the base is enclosed into the side of a mountain with concrete walls that are ten feet thick and ten feet high surrounding it. Green squad will approach from the south, camo squad will approach from the west, and my squad will approach from the east. From there green squad will create a diversion and camo squad will infiltrate the base while my squad provides cover fire for the two squads. We have thirteen hours to get there gentlemen, so lets get a move on!"

"Hooah!"

The area was rocky as we made our way towards the MECH base. Thirteen hours of just marching, great… this was going to be a blast. As we walked I studied the Colonel. He was an inch or two taller than I was and had a good twenty pounds on me in muscle weight. He had an M11 strapped to each thigh and he was also carrying an M4 rifle. He looked to be in his mid to late thirties and strapped on his belt was a three-scabbarded SOG throwing knives scabbard with three of the SOG knives in there. He also had a bowie knife sticking out of his left boot. This guy was practically armed to the teeth. The Colonel instilled awe amongst the men that he commanded and he was respected. He spoke with an air of authority that made a person listen whenever he spoke. He reminded me a lot of my father, Silas that is. We all were silent as we marched towards the base; it wasn't that we had nothing to say to one another it was a matter of necessity and orders. We needed to be quiet in order for us to remain focused. The sun went down below the horizon and we all switched to night vision, or infrared. We kept going until the Colonel signaled for us to stop. "Alright, listen up, men," he said softly. "We'll have a five minute rest until the other two groups arrive."

I sat down on a rock and pulled a scope out off my backpack and handed it to a sniper. He nodded his thanks and I nodded back. I did that two other times and I looked at the Colonel and saw that he was sharpening his throwing knives. I smiled and then looked down at my prosthetic. I clenched it into a fist and then unclenched it. I closed my eyes and thought, Hopefully tonight I can end this. We can end this! Silas needs to be stopped at all costs if he's willing to hurt innocents. He's no better than a murderer! My eyes snapped open and I felt a renewed flame of determination to continue on with my current path.

"Time to get ready, men," the Colonel said.

The rest of us stood up, with the exception of the snipers, and joined the Colonel on an outcrop of rock that overlooked the little valley that MECH had built their base in. "We're going to attack that?" a soldier asked mystified.

I had to agree with him it looked damn near impenetrable, not to mention the turret systems that the base had. There had to be at the most five turrets and at least three. I swallowed and said, "We have to. If we don't Silas could get away and MECH could cause more havoc than they have already."

"Private Schwarz has got a point," the Colonel said. "We need to take the base and capture Silas."

"Yes, sir," the same soldier said.

"Now cut the chit chat and get ready to provide cover fire," the Colonel said. "Snipers find a good spot and stay there to provide the needed support."

"Sir, yes, sir!" the three snipers said.

Through the infrared I saw a trail of something and then cement and concrete fly through the air. RPG, I surmised. That was repeated three times in the same spot. The turret systems pointed towards the source and started firing. The Colonel cursed and looked through his pack. He pulled out a laptop and opened it. He started typing and I saw that he was commanding a drone.

"Predator missile inbound," he said. "That'll send at least two of the turrets on the western side to hell." A couple of seconds later, the sound of a drone flying over was heard and then the sound of a missile coming down. There was an explosion and I saw the turrets had been obliterated; the only thing there was a smoking mess. The Colonel repeated that two more times and took care of the remaining turrets.

From our vantage point we could see the camo group heading towards the small breach in the wall that the missiles and RPG's had created. The sound of the snipers firing was heard from our group, but I didn't see any muzzles flash. I suppose that was a good thing for us and a bad thing for MECH. "They're in." the Colonel said.

I think we all breathed a sigh of relief at that point. The Colonel listened to his radio and then frowned. This wasn't good. "We need to go in, all units move in, repeat all units move into the base!" the Colonel ordered.

The Colonel led us down from the outcrop we had been on, and once we were down he told the rest of the black group to head on without him and me. He turned to me and unbuckled his throwing knives from his belt and extended them to me. "Take 'em kid," he said. "From what I've heard you can throw knives pretty good."

"Decent enough, sir," I said taking the three throwing knives. "You can move on through the base alone, I have a feeling that Silas will end up separating you from the main group anyway."

"You're just going to give him what he wants?" I asked. "Me?"

"If it means keeping you safe and keeping some of my troops alive," the Colonel said, "then yes, I am. Sending you through that base to find your father alone will also give us more time to clear the base and take captives like our original objective had called for. You can stall for time, fight your father if you have to."

"Yes, sir." I said saluting the Colonel.

"You will make an excellent soldier, kid," the Colonel said leaving me standing there.

I heard the sound of gunfire, I smelt the scent of lead and ejected cartridges, I heard the sounds of men dying and fighting. Throughout this madness, I had order. I ran towards the base and climbed the rocks surrounding the walls of the base. I got ten feet in the air and ten I jumped onto the ramparts of the base. I saw a MECH soldier raise his gun at me and I didn't hesitate. I fired the M16 purely out of instinct and the soldier fell with three shots in his chest. I moved closer and nudged him with my foot to make sure he was dead. Better him than me. I thought grimly.

I found my way inside of the base and I ended up ducking behind a steel column due to gunfire. This is fantastic, just a-fucking-mazing! I heard the gunfire cease and I took that as my chance and I leaned out and returned fire. I took down two more soldiers and wounded another in the leg. I ran forward and hit him in the face with the stock of the M16, knocking him out. Adrenaline was coursing through my veins as more shots came towards me from my right. I felt a stinging sensation in my left bicep and I leaned back into a pillar to get some cover. I looked and saw that a bullet had grazed it and left a bloody trail in its wake. It wasn't anything serious, but it sure as hell hurt like a bitch. "Shit." I breathed out in pain. I waited until I heard the soldiers changing clips before I emerged and shot them like I had done to the others. I cautiously moved toward that direction and further into the belly of the beast.

I performed cautionary sweeps throughout the hallway until I heard a pistol hammer click back and a voice say, "That's far enough. Now, drop the gun and put your hands in the air."

I didn't click on the safety and I turned the gun so that the barrel would be facing behind me. "As you wish." I said dropping the M16. A single shot rang out and I turned around, grabbed the pistol and punched the man in the face. I turned the pistol on the soldier and shot him in the head. I closed my eyes briefly and wondered where this killer had emerged from, what hellish environment had created him and what kind of monster could I have become to kill a man in cold blood like that.

"Sorry, mate," I said putting on the safety of the Berretta and sticking that in my waistband. I bent down and picked up the M16 before moving forward. I finally came to a room where it looked like a command center of some sort, there were computers and monitors all over the room and I saw Silas standing with his hands behind his back watching the raid on the screens.

"Intruder!" a soldier yelled and I ducked behind a computer as bullets ripped through the air where I had been standing.

I held the M16 out at the corner and fired at the soldiers down in the room hoping to buy myself some time. I changed clips and started firing again. I heard soldiers approaching my position and I pulled the gun back and saw a head emerge at the top of the stairway. I fired and blood erupted from the head as the bullet connected. I changed the clip again and fired at the soldiers. "ENOUGH!" Silas' voice bellowed. The soldiers retreated and my heart was pounding frantically. "Come forward and your life will be spared, soldier!"

I checked my ammo and saw that I was down to my last clip. I quickly peered down and saw that there were ten soldiers left, and Silas. I checked the pistol ammunition and saw that I had one clip for each of those as well, and I had three throwing knives. Things didn't look good; eleven to one odds never do look good. "Empty out and give support to your fellow MECH soldiers," Silas ordered. "I'll handle this one."

"As you wish, sir," a voice said. I heard the soldiers file out of the room through another exit I was assuming and I pulled a ski mask type thing from my pack and put it on. I set the pack on the floor, along with the M16. I stood up and put the helmet back on. I saw Silas standing there, unarmed, in the middle of the room with his hands behind his back.

"Quite the diversion that your team has set up, soldier," Silas said.

I nodded not saying anything and jumped down the ten feet from the second floor to the first. I landed with a loud thud and stood up. I quickly whipped out the Berretta and the forty-five just as Silas pulled out two M9's. Silas chuckled and lowered the guns. I didn't and I kept them focused on Silas; one aimed at his head and the other at his heart. "Why don't we settle this the old fashioned way?" Silas asked holding out the pistols for me to see. They were both on safety as he dropped them to the floor.

I held out my pistols and clicked their safeties on as well. I dropped them and settled into a crouch that Flare had taught me. The crouch was one that had my right leg forward, bent at a ninety degree angle, and my left leg behind it straight out. My left hand was the lower one and the forearm was parallel to the ground while the right forearm was perpendicular to the ground. This stance will either enable you to perform a sweeping kick with your trailing leg or jump away and regroup into a different stance. Flare's voice said in my head.

Silas settled into a boxer's stance and advanced towards me. I turned and as I turned my left leg swept at Silas' legs. He leapt to avoid the sweep and as I rose from the stance I performed an uppercut to his abdomen. It connected and it brought him to the ground. I backed away and let him get back up as I assumed a new stance, a Muay Thai stance this time. Silas stood up and eyed me wearily. Silas advanced more carefully at me before suddenly spinning on a heel and performing a high kick at my head. I blocked it with my prosthetic and performed a kick of my own to his planting leg. The kick connected, but did nothing to faze him. Silas brought both of his fists together, like Batman does when fighting Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, and connected with my ribs. I stumbled back and he pressed his advantage. I jumped up and performed a kick aimed at his face, and he dodged it. I landed and blocked the fist flying towards my face. I however didn't block the one that got me in the stomach. It was followed up with a vicious knee to the gut and then a hook to the face as I was doubled over. I collapsed onto the ground and looked Silas in the eyes. "I admit, you've got spirit," Silas said. "Too bad you aren't on the winning side."

I removed my ripped mask and watched Silas' shocked reaction. "I'm pretty sure that I've got a good side to be on," I said standing up. I spit out blood and looked at my adoptive father. "Like I've told you on our previous encounter, I left MECH for a reason."

Leaving no time for Silas to reply, I charged him and tackled him with a form that a football coach would have been proud of. Silas grunted as we hit the floor and I managed to get him into a shoulder-triangle hold. I pressed on his left shoulder as I pulled back and he eventually found a way to get out of it. We struggled on the ground back and forth, each trying to get the other in a solid submission hold. We both gave up on that idea and stood up panting, facing one another. I was pleased to see that Silas was sporting a bloody lip and the beginnings of a black eye over his left eye. I couldn't imagine how bad I looked though. The important thing was that I was holding my own. The base shook as we circled each other and I heard the sound of gunfire in the hallway. "Surrender, Silas," I said. "Don't make this any messier than it already is."

"Good try son," Silas said charging at me.

I sighed and unsheathed a throwing knife. I sidestepped the charge and switched grip quickly and stabbed downwards. Silas blocked my left arm with his forearm and he looked shocked that I had the audacity to pull a knife on him. I pulled backward and twirled the knife so that I was now holding it by the blade. I threw it and I got Silas in the left thigh.

I pulled another knife out as the sounds of gunfire ceased, and I turned briefly to look behind me and that turned out to be a mistake as I felt an immense pain in my stomach. I looked down and saw the throwing knife embedded in my gut. I looked at Silas in shock and stumbled backwards. Even Silas looked shocked. The rest of my company came into the command room as I fell onto my knees and they raised their guns at Silas. "You son of a bitch," I whispered looking at Silas. "I can't believe you'd do that when I wasn't looking!"

"I'm so sorry, Beau!" Silas said approaching me. A warning shot was fired at his feet and he backed up.

I managed to stand up and I looked my adoptive father in the eye. "I didn't want to believe everything that they told me about you," I said. "But now it seems that this is proof that you'd rather kill your adopted son than surrender."

"Beau…" Silas tried.

"Fuck you." I said throwing the knife I held in my hand as hard as I could. It embedded itself into Silas' stomach and then I collapsed back onto my knees. My vision started to go blurry and then it went black. Sorry, Flare, I thought, I guess I couldn't keep my promise after all.